'Ballerinas In The Everglades' At Westover School In Middlebury

Photographer Heather Donlan Inspired By Delicacy, Wildness

Heather Donlan, a portrait photographer in Naples, Fla., has daughters who took ballet lessons. Seeing them practice made her want to photograph ballerinas, maybe with animals. That idea shifted around in her mind for a while, not fully formed. Then Donlan went on a trip to Thailand.

"We were really taken in by the rice fields, the rice paddies. They were so beautiful. I realized that there are a lot of similarities between that look a the look of the Everglades," she says.

The idea for the animals fell by the wayside, to be replaced by rugged landscape. Donlan's ballerinas, pretty young women in floaty, delicately colored tutus, had a backdrop: the harsh, swampy terrain of the Everglades.

"I love that look, of the wild. I find the Everglades to be so beautiful," Donlan says. "Even though the conditions can be quite harsh and uninviting, once you get out there, it's a very beautiful place."

Donlan is a 1991 graduate of Westover School, an all-girl private school in Middlebury. She has an exhibit on the walls now at her alma mater. "Ballerinas in the Everglades" will be up from Friday, March 15, to Saturday, March 23.

At first, Donlan had a hard time persuading ballerinas to come with her for a photo shoot. "Nobody knew what I was trying to do. It was a little terrifying," she says, laughing. "I went to the ballet studio and did not get a very good response. It was so out-of-the-box for people to feel comfortable sending their kids out with me."

Finally, a good friend let her take her little daughter. That friend came along to feel safe. It was a weekday and they took the girl out of school, to avoid the weekend glut of airboats in the swamp.

"We had to get permission to go through the [Miccosuke] Indian reservation, to be allowed onto the land. Then we had to work with an airboat guide who also is allowed to work within the reservation," she says. "Then we would drive around in the airboat until we see an area where the light is right.

"The Everglades is changing constantly as the water moves through there," she says. "If we saw something and says 'next time,' the next time we'd go out it would have changed. You never go back to the same place twice."

The resulting photos are striking studies in contrast. The ballerinas take classical poses with their feet either skimming the top of a swampy muck or submerged mid-calf in the water. They are framed by wild marsh grass or leafless, barren hulks of trees. The girls, the rugged surroundings and the dramatic cloud formations are reflected in the water, creating both a fish-out-of-water spectacle and its mirror image.

The clouds, which are seen in a wide variety of formations, were just a matter of luck, Donlan says. "When you go out so early in the day, it's hard to tell what the clouds will look like," she says. "We are so lucky that we got so much diversity."

Donlan says that sometimes the ballerinas were afraid of the possibility of animal encounters. During their journeys, they saw lots of alligators, and heard stories about water moccasins and deer. However, nobody ever was threatened.

"It takes a while for them to warm up and realize it's quite safe," Donlan says. "I and the girls' mothers and the airboat guide would surround her on all sides. Once they realize they're protected, they realize it wasn't as scary as they picture it to be in their minds."

The ballerinas are a personal art project for Donlan, who is a well-respected portraitist with high-profile clients including President George W. Bush. And she is not done.

"Currently I have nine of them. There are more images I haven't been able to get yet," she says. "Maybe I can combine ballerinas together."

"BALLERINAS IN THE EVERGLADES" will be at the Schumacher Gallery at Westover School, 1237 Whittemore Road in Middlebury, until Saturday, March 23. Gallery hours are weekdays noon to 5 p.m. and Saturday 1 to 5 p.m. Admission is free. Visitors must access the gallery at the main entrance of the school. Details: http://www.westoverschool.org.